Slim must have buyer for assets before presenting plan: regulator

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Tycoon Carlos Slim must have an independent buyer lined up before presenting a plan to the regulator to sell a chunk of assets, the head of Mexico's regulator the Federal Institute of Telecommunications (IFT) said on Wednesday.

Contreras said that the plan, which must be accepted by the IFT in order for Slim to avoid tough new regulations, had to be "concrete" and that any buyer had to be independent of the seller, in this case Slim's America Movil.

"The only way the Institute can verify that the person who will receive the assets is independent is to know who it is," IFT President Gabriel Contreras told reporters.